Overview
- Campbell Soup Company placed Vice President Martin Bally on leave and opened an internal investigation following publication of a secretly recorded conversation.
- The company called assertions about lab-grown or 3D-printed chicken false and absurd, stressing it uses real chicken from approved U.S. suppliers and that Bally works in IT, not food production.
- The recording is filed as evidence in Garza’s Wayne County discrimination and retaliation case, which alleges he was fired weeks after reporting Bally’s remarks to HR.
- Excerpts attributed to Bally disparage Campbell’s products and customers, include racist comments about Indian colleagues, and reference occasional cannabis use before work.
- Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said his consumer-protection unit will seek answers from Campbell’s, citing the state’s ban on lab-grown meat.